(Sketch by: Jane Rosenberg; Defense lawyer, Kathleen Mullin questioning Dr. Barbara Sampson)By: Dovesblood
September 25th., 2008 was the 5th day of testimony in the murder trial of Nixzmary Brown's mother, Nixzaliz Santiago. First, I'll say what happened in a nutshell, then I'll write about the testimony in detail.
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED IN A NUTSHELL: The defense's cross exam of the prosecution's Medical Examiner, Dr. Barbara Sampson, continued. Defense lawyer, Kathleen Mullin, pointed out that Nixzmary's pediatrician and emergency room staff are all "mandatory reporters" obligated to report suspected child abuse and they never did. (meaning they didn't see signs of abuse).
That A PARTIALLY ADHERANT HEMATOMA IS CONSISTANT WITH BEING HOURS OLD, NOT DAYS, AND NIXZMARY'S WAS PARTIALLY ADHERANT.
That ALL OF HER RED BLOOD CELLS WERE INTACT, MEANING BRUISING JUST HAPPENED.(when just bruised, red blood cells remain intact and only break down after 2-3 days) Nixzmary's were all intact.
That when blood comes out of the membrane, the body responds with an accute inflammatory reaction within a few hours. NIXZMARY HAD AN ACCUTE INFLAMMATORY REACTION, MEANING, IT HAD ONLY BEEN A FEW HOURS.
Mullin got Sampson to say that she (Sampson) based Nixzmary's time of death on body temperature and Mullin pointed out that it's "JUNK SCIENCE" TO BASE TIME OF DEATH ON BODY TEMP.and listed all the reasons why. That's what happened in a nutshell.
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED IN DETAIL: When everyone showed up in the morning, Lead D.A., Ama Dwimoh (ja-mo) was wearing a dark brown suit. Asst. D.A. Anthea Bruffee was wearing a gray skirt suit. Asst. D.A., Linda Weinman was wearing a black suit. Defense lawyer, Kathleen M. Mullin, came in wearing flip flops. One time I saw her outside after court wearing flip flops. She told someone that after wearing high heels all day her feet hurt, that's why she wears them. I think her nails were painted pink or red. I didn't want to stare, so I'm not sure. Judge Patricia DiMango was wearing a shiny, metallic green dress. DiMango seems like the type that would wear a ballroom dress just to go to the supermarket. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's not a criticism, just an observation.
Before Nixzaliz's trial start, there was a resentencing case. An Orthodox Jewish man who raped 2 little girls was contesting his plea of 7 years in jail and wanted to take it back. The prosecutor was complaining to the judge that the community has been harrassing the victim's family to let the rapist (who's an upstanding member of the community) go. Also he wanted to be out for the upcoming Jewish holidays. The judge let him stay out and delayed sentencing. The man's name was Martin Vey or Day. It was surreal watching this child rapist walk out of the courtroom with his family who was dressed in black, after knowing he raped two children.
When Nixzaliz was brought out she was wearing a beige top and pants with a beige "bun holder" ( I don't know the exact word) that encircled her entire bun. She wore black rimmed glasses.
At the bench conference the defense again renewed the application to request to tell the jury that Nixzaliz brought Nixzmary to the hospital for her baby doctor visits. DiMango said no that there's evidence that another person brought Nixzmary to the doctor on one other occassion. Mullin said it shows Nixzaliz loved Nixzmary but DiMango said the signature is unreadable and Asst D.A. Bruffee said it could've been Edward James Brown. (He was Nixzaliz's boyfriend in Connecticut and the father of Edward and Selena) The judge denied the application.
Dr. Barbara Sampson retook the stand for cross examination by the defense lawyer, Kathleen Mullin.
Cesar's lawyer, Jeff Schwartz shows up.
Mullin direct Sampson's attention to Nixzmary's 24 month well baby doctor visit and points out that yesterday, Sampson made an error when she was marking the chart with the marker. (a gigantic growth chart that's placed upon an easel to the right of the witness box. As Mullin called out how much Nixzmary weighed, Sampson would mark it on the chart at the appropriate percentile) Mullin said at 15 month doctor visit, Sampson erroneously marked it wrong on the chart.Sampson gets up and corrects her markings. Nixzmary was 16 months and 21 pounds.
Mullin points out that at 2 year well baby visit, Nixzmary was between 10 -25th percentile.
From birth to 36 months, every plot with exception of birth is below 50th percentile. EVERY PLOT BELOW 25th PERCENTILE.
Mullin then asks Sampson if she's aware of what's called a "mandatory reporter". That's where doctors are mandated to report suspected child abuse. Mullin points out that in 2005, Nixzmary went to the pediatrician as well as the emergency room in November and not one of the two parties reported child abuse. They never reported it because they never saw it.
She said Nixzmary's PEDIATRIC RECORDS FROM 2005 list "normal" next to her skin, head, scalp, eyes and all other body parts and that there was NO INDICATION NIXZMARY HAD ANY OF THE INJURIES shown in the pictures.
Mullin then brings up the Woodhull hospital visit, Nov 29th 2005 where Cesar took Nixzmary for the gash over her right eye. THE TRIAGE FORM LISTS: swelling to the right eye and nose, black eye, laceration appears infected with brown area all around. NO OTHER BRUISES PRESENT - ACCORDING TRIAGE FORM. Mullin said 40 days prior to Nixzmary's death, she had no other bruises present.
Nixzmary was taken to Woodhull by Cesar who told the doctors that she was playing and fell on a piece of wood and that's how the gash over her right eyebrow happened.
There's a notation in the medical records that reads: laceration over right eye. Wound cleansed and sutured. 3 sutures at E.R. ( First that animal, Cesar causes the gash to her eye and now that poor baby had to go through the pain of getting stitches. I can only hope she wasn't in to much pain, getting the stitches. Who did she have there to comfort her while they were running a needle through her flesh? That animal Cesar? Some comfort he is!) The records also indicated that she had swelling in the periorbital region (anywhere all around the eye). Right eyebrow with surrrounding edema and periorbital swelling with a +2.
Nixzmary was brought to the emergency room at 2:20 am.
The medical records also indicate that she had a OMS consultation, that the wound was cleansed with Betadine, she got 3 stitches and keplax (?) vastration ointment was put on it.
Mullin points out that the large wound to Nixzmary's chin was not present.
Mullin asked Sampson if she agreed that after the wound was sutured that it was bandaged. Sampson says yes. Mullin then points to the picture of Nixzmary's wound and asked Sampson if the rectangular shape present over the wound is consistant with bandage. Sampson answered yes.
Mullin says to Sampson "what killed this child was a subdural hematoma",'did you say that?'" Sampson replies in the context of child abuse syndrome, yes. Mullin points out that THIS WOUND FROM NOV. DID NOT CAUSE HER DEATH.
Next, they started discussing what a subdural hematoma is. A subdural hematoma is a pooling of blood between the skull and the dura mater. The dura mater is the membrane that covers the underside of the skull. There are small veins that bridge the dura mater to the brain. When there's the blow to the head and the brain moves, those veins that bridge the dura mater to the brain get torn and start to leak. There's an accumulation of blood pushing against the brain.
Mullin asked if it was possible for a person with a subdural hematoma NOT to exhibit symptoms. Sampson replied, yes, if it was small. Mullin said: so you agree that not all folks with subdurals exhibit the same symptoms. Not everyone moans or gasps for air.
Mullin pointed out that A SUBDURAL IS NOT SOMETHING THAT CAN BE SEEN FROM THE OUTSIDE OF A PERSON. (implying, Nixzaliz did not know her daughter had a subdural hematoma because you can't see it from the outside)
Mullin pointed out that Dr. Guitierez (who did the autopsy) said that blood from Nixzmary's subdural was only partially adherant to the dura.
When adhesion happens, the cells begin to infiltrate the dura. A 7 day hematoma would be completely adherant to the dura. Mullin said, science tells us NIXZMARY'S HEMATOMA WAS NOT ENTIRELY ADHERANT TO THE DURA-- WHICH TELLS US THAT IT WAS ONLY HOURS OLD.(the DA is saying she was left dying on the floor for 2 days but Mullin is pointing out that the SCIENCE tells us she was hit on the head a few hours prior to her death.) Mullin repeated that a partially adherant hematoma is consistant with being only a few hours old and asked Sampson if she agreed. Sampson said, no.
Mullin also pointed out that when you're bruised, initially, all of your red blood cells remain intact and after 2-3 days, the red blood cells start to break down. Mullin pointed out that ALL OF NIXZMARY'S RED BLOOD CELLS, WHEN VIEWED MICROSCOPICALLY, WERE INTACT---THIS MEANS THAT THE BRUISING WAS RECENT AND NOT DAYS OLD.
She also pointed out that when blood is out of the membrane, within a few hours of the hematoma, the body responds with an accute inflammatory reaction, that can be detected microscopically. Mullin said that NIXZMARY HAD AN ACCUTE INFLAMMATORY REACTION, MEANING THAT THE HEMATOMA WAS RECENT. Sampson said to the jury that parts of the hematoma can look recent but you have to look at the oldest area.
Mullin got Sampson to admit that there wasn't one slide that showed broken down red blood cells and that every area had whole red blood cells.
Mullin then goes over all of the tests she'd previously talked about. Acetone (chemical that's indicative of starvation and Nixzmary had none in her blood), creatnine (which affects kidney functions and Nixzmary's kidneys were normal), urianitrogen (fluid taken from the eye that can tell you if a person has been dehydrated, Nixzmary's levels indicated that she was not dehydrated), microscopic organization of cells. etc.
Mullin pointed out that to give a date and time of the person's death would still be a guess. Sampson said "an educated guess". Mullin pointed out that Sampson admitted she (Sampson) could be wrong.
Mullin then recaps the 4 ways Sampson said M.E.'s could tell when someone died:
1) rigor mortis
2) lividity
3) body temperature
4) chemical tests
Lividity is when after a person dies the blood begins to pool, gravitationally. If they're lying on their back the blood will pool on their back.
Mullin said that the Medical Legal Investigators (MLI's) arrived on the scene at 7:21am and took the temperatures between 8:15-8:30 am. They said lividity was not observed on Nixzmary.
Mullin started talking about how Sampson determined Nixzmary's time of death- body temperature.
At this point, the court reporters had to switch, and Judge DiMango calls a 5 minute bathroom break.
Jeff Schwartz goes over to speak with Sanchez and Mullin.
A black guy with long dreadlocks, Selene (the STEPS lawyer, who was fighting during the pretrials against Nixzaliz's counseling records being released to the prosecution) and the rest of them were all huddled together.
During the break, Mullin pours her 20 oz. Diet Coke into a plastic cup.
When they bring out Nixzaliz, Dwimoh's assistants who wheel her files in and out of the room on carts started snickering and laughing at Nixzaliz. I wondered if Nixzmary was in the room, how she would feel if she saw these girls laughing at her mother? I don't think she'd like it.
After the break, Mullin pointed out that BASING THE TIME OF DEATH ON JUST BODY TEMPERATURE IS JUNK SCIENCE AND ONE OF THE LEAST ACCURATE WAYS. Then she said: but YOU, based your time of death on it.
Mullin pointed out that there are some forensic texts that say that the body cools at 1 degree an hour and some people who say 1.5 degrees. She said 1 degree is the rule of thumb and that SAMPSON CHOOSE THE BIGGER COOLING TEMPERATURE, RATHER THAN THE SMALLER. Both are subject to a wide degree of variables. Like a fat person would cool more slower than a thin person. (a thin person, would cool faster)
Mullin asked Sampson if she agreed that outside circumstances of immediate surroundings would affect body temperature calculations and make it useless. Sampson said, no, it wouldn't be useless. Mullin then gave her an example of a person who dies at a 100 degree sauna. Their body wouldn't be cooling it would be heating up. Sampson agreed.
Then Mullin pointed out that, then, Sampson does agree that there are circumstances under which 1.5 degrees an hour is useless.
Mullin pointed out that what a person is wearing has an impact on their body temperature. Then she gave an ex.: if I die in a parka in the living room, a person took off my clothes and one hour later the MLI (medical legal investigator) came, the body temperature would be affected.
Mullin then pointed out that AT THE TIME THE M.E. OFFERED NIXZMARY'S TIME OF DEATH, THEY HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE CLOTHING SHE WAS WEARING PRIOR TO DEATH.
(When Nixzaliz saw her daughter on the floor and that she was icy cold, she picked her up from the floor, and put her into a tub of warm water to warm her up. When Nixzmary was sitting in the tub of warm water, Nixzaliz put warm water in Nixzmary's mouth to further warm her up, then she dressed her in a warm red sweatsuit, wrapped her in blankets, and layed her in her siblings room, on the floor, next to a working radiator so she could further warm up)
Mullin pointed out that Nixzmary was wearing sweatpants.
A guard hands Mullin Nixzmary's clothing. Mullin picks it up with her bare hands. Judge DiMango asked her if she wanted gloves and Mullin replied, "no, I'm good".(the d.a.'s and guards always wear hospital gloves when they pick up the clothes, refusing to touch it otherwise, like they're going to catch a disease from poor little Nixzmary's clothes!!!! It's not mandatory to wear gloves so there's no reason why they have to treat Nixzmary's clothes like some sort of thing they're gonna catch a disease from! I've noticed that only Mullin and Sanchez handle her clothes with their bare hands, everyone else is paranoid and wears gloves)
Anyway, Mullin holds up Nixzmary's purple top and her red sweatsuit in front of Dr. Sampson and asks: would she (Nixzmary) cool less quickly if she were wearing a purple top and a long sleeved turtleneck? Sampson said yes but it would only have a minimal effect on cooling.
Then Mullin asked her if Nixzmary was wrapped in blankets and placed in front of a working radiator if it would impact their calculations. Sampson answered yes.
Mullin said: if she were placed in cold water, her temperature would go down, and if she were placed in warm water, her temperature would go up.
Mullin then restated what happened to Nixzmary: her mother picked her up from the cold floor, put her in a warm bath, dressed her in warm clothes, put her by a warm radiator. (Mullin was pointing all of this out to show the jury that Nixzmary's body temperature went up and down that day, from extreme cold, to extreme heat.)
She also pointed out that the M.E. had no knowledge of the clothing she was wearing (or the warm bath, blankets, radiator) prior to death when they came up with their time of death- that was based solely on body temperature.
Then Mullin points out that IF THE APARTMENT DOOR WAS OPENED, WHILE POLICE WAITING FOR M.E., IT WOULD COOL NIXZMARY'S BODY POST MORTEM.
So she's saying you have all of these factors that effected Nixzmary's body temp. like her being thin,: thin people cool more quickly, the door being opened would affect body temp., the clothes she had on that were removed would affect her body temp.-by cooling it. (Cesar took off Nixzmary's top and sweatshirt when he did the CPR)
Next, the issue of potassium was brought up. After someone dies the cells leak potassium and Dr. Sampson said a normal person's potassium would be about a 3 or 4. Potassium levels go up until you no longer have any cells. Sampson said she's never seen potassium higher that an 11 or 12.
Mullin said, NIXZMARY'S POTASSIUM WAS 7.4---WHICH IS MORE CONSISTANT WITH HER BEING DEAD A FEW HOURS THAN A FEW DAYS. Sampson disagreed. Sampson said "we don't use solely potassium". Mullin said: no what you used was body temperature,- then she again pointed out how inaccurate using body temp. was.
Mullin asked Sampson if dating injuries is also a hazardous matter. Sampson said it's difficult, but they can tell if an injury is recent, healing or healed. Mullin pointed out that it's the ground in between is where it becomes difficult.
(At one point, when Mullin was questioning Sampson, Mullin was writing on a gigantic white notepad mounted on an easle. Mullin wanted to give Sampson an example and used football. Mullin asked: I like football, do you like football? Sampson glared at her and said "NNNNNNNNooo", in a kind of snotty voice. Sampson doesn't exactly look like the football type. She looks more like a tennis sort of person. Mullin, on the other hand, does look like the football type. She seems like the type that would come charging at you, screaming, "AAAAAAHHHHHHH", jump you, then tackle you to the ground! Judge DiMango seems like the type that would be sitting high up in the bleachers, in the shade, sipping Mai Tai's with little umbrellas in them, watching the whole thing. Dwimoh also seems like the type that would be up in the bleachers.)
Mullin mentioned iron staining, but I didn't catch what she said. Sorry.
(when I take notes, I take them in long hand, not short hand so it's difficult to catch everything. I thought about learning short hand but it would take to long and the trial is already ongoing. At Cesar's trial, there was a woman in the room named Pastor Greene and she also took notes apparently in long hand. That trial was like Barnum and Bailey Circus with Jeff Schwartz and Ama Dwimoh trying to kill each other. And who was the ring master of the circus? Priscilla "Laxadazial" Hall. She was nicknamed that by the New York Newspapers. Judge Hall was ripped apart by the media but she ended up getting promoted to Chief Judge for Brooklyn Supreme Court, so in the end, Priscilla Laxadazial had the last laugh. With the promotion and probable salary raise, Priscilla Laxadazial ended up laughing all the way to the bank)
Mullin again pointed out that on November 29th., 2005, which was 40 DAYS PRIOR TO NIXZMARY'S DEATH, SHE HAD NO BRUISES WHICH MEANS THEY HAD TO HAVE BEEN INFLICTED AFTER THE HOSPITAL VISIT.
Mullin showed Sampson an autopsy photo of Nixzmary's lower lip being pulled back by metal clamps, exposing a bright red bruise in the shape of a submarine on her lower lip. Sampson agreed the bruise was inflicted hours to days before death.
Mullin showed Sampson a photo of Nixzmary's ligature mark on her ankle, that was older than the first picture shown. This bruise was healing, not healed, She said "we're in the ground in the middle" (between healing and healed)
They started talking about bruise colors. That you can determine the age of a bruise by looking at it's color. When a bruise turns a yellow hue, it's almost healed.
Mullin holds up the photos and says "she didn't die from this" THE WOUND LACERATION TO THE FOREHEAD DIDN'T CAUSE HER DEATH. Sampson agreed. Mullin said NOT EVEN THE BLACK EYES AND NOSE SWELLING DIDN'T CAUSE HER DEATH.
Mullin said, an injury that IS visible that looks terrible, might not kill a child, (she's referring to black eyes the cut to forehead etc) but a subdural, that DOESN'T EXIST VISUALLY, would kill a child.
The judge recesses at 1pm. Court is suppose to start again at 2:15 but apparently, there was a secret hearing going on. Everyone was out in the hall until 3:30pm. Dr. Sampson who was in the witness waiting room, out in the hallway, got tired of staying in the small little room and actually came out into the regular waiting room with the general public. When she saw her friend, an Oriental male, sitting there and that everyone still hadn't been let back into the courtroom, she said "Oh, Gooood". She said she was getting bored waiting in the room. She sat out in the hallway with the rest of us. She was telling her friend about some book that her boss, Dr. Hersch wrote.
When everyone was let back into the room, DiMango said the reason everyone was out in the hall was because there wasn't enough security in the room and the sargent decided that until the guards came back to keep everyone outside.
When everyone was let back in, lead D.A., Ama Dwimoh, did the re-direct. Dwimoh tried to do damage control over Mullin's tarnishing Sampson's reputation in relation to the taser trial. Dwimoh asked her if she ever ever did an autopsy on someone who died of a gunshot wound. Sampson answered yes. (but she never did an autopsy on any taser victim and wanted expert status, whereas she did do autopsies on gunshot victims) Dwimoh asked her if she was qualified in ballistics or knew how guns are manufactured and what metals they're made from. Sampson answered, no. (the point was that she didn't need to know in detail about the weapon that killed the victim) Then Dwimoh pointed out that when Sampson testified in relation to gunshot victims, she was granted expert status even though she didn't know how guns are manufactured. Dwimoh pointed out that when Sampson testified at gunshot victim's trials, she was still granted expert status despite not knowing how guns operate. (again, the distingtion is, Sampson never did an autopsy on a single taser victim but wanted expert status to testify that a taser caused the death)
Dwimoh pointed out that Dr. Guitierez (who did the autopsy) is not an expert in forensic neuro pathology, that Dr. Hersch (chief M.E. for N.Y.C.) informed her she'd be testifying here today and that she didn't need to discuss her conclusions with Guitierez because she (Sampson) is claiming they were the same. (the defense was implying that Guitierez has different conclusions than Sampson. We know he testified 3 X in relation to this case (not at Cesar's trial) I'd be interested in looking at the minutes to see what he said.
Dwimoh pointed out that in reference to the growth charts that there are 3 years of information missing from that chart, from when Nixzmary was 2 years old to 5 years old.
Dwimoh pointed out that from Nixzmary's May 25th. 2005 visit to her pediatrician, Dr. Simpao, to her next visit with him on June 3rd. of 2005, that she gained half a pound. Dwimoh asked Sampson if she agreed that this child had the capacity to gain weight in a short period of time. Sampson said yes.
At time of autopsy, Nixzmary had fallen off the chart, into the 5th percentile.
Sampson explains the difference between malnourishment and starvation. malnourishment is when you're not getting enough nutrients and starvation is the end stage of malnutrition. She said Nixzmary did not starve to death, but she was a victim of malnutrition. Dwimoh said in relation to blood tests to determine if a child is starved it has to be done when they're alive. She said it's not valid post mortem.
Dwimoh puts back on the projector a crimescene photo of Nixzmary. She asked Sampson if looking at the slide of subcutaneous fat, does it tell you how much fat the person had.
There's a bench conference.
Dwimoh asked Sampson to explain about subdurals and she said you would have to look at the oldest areas to determine how old it is.
Sampson then again stated the symptoms of the subdural: headaches (she pronounced it weird, like this: head-ik), nausea, vomiting, sleepiness, unconsciousness, respiratory depression, and then the breathing stops.
Sampson said she looked at Dr. Wetli's (defense's M.E.) micrograph and some areas looked adherant but not the best areas. Dwimoh said that early organization of the subdural is consistant with it being 2 days old and that if there was no organizartion of subdural then it would be recent. When Sampson said some areas looked adherant but not the best areas, that helps the defense because if the best areas were NOT adherant, then that 's consistant with it being recent. (only after days, does entire adherance occur) I couldn't understand why she said that. When Dwimoh spoke of early organization of subdural--I'm really not sure what she was talking about. ( I think it might have been blood cells but I'm not sure because she wasn't clear about it, all she said was "subdural")
Dwimoh then spoke of the accute inflammatory reaction and pointed out that some of the cells persist for days.
Sampson then stated that she doesn' know the exact hour Nixzmary died. (this is a contradiction from Cesar's trial because at that trial, Dr.Sampson said Nixzmary died sometime between 8:30 - 9pm on Jan. 10th)
She stated in reference to the 4 ways to determine time of death that: Nixzmary had no rigidity, minimal lividity, that chemical test were of no use and that the only thing they had to go on was body temperature.
Nixzmary's body temp. was 82 degrees, the room temp. was 78 degrees ambient. Nixzmary lost 16 1/2 degrees of body temperature.
Dwimoh said that potassium testing was of no use and not used in the Medical Examiner's office.
Sampson said she reviewed the statements of the parents and it was a factor in her opinion.
In reference to lividity, Sampson stated Guitierez saw minimal lividity and when the medical legal examiner (MLI) got there to the apartment they also noted the lividity was minimal. Sampson stated the lighting in an apartment is not always the best.
Dwimoh shows her 2 photos of Nixzmary, one with the black eyes, the other with the gash to the forehead. Juror 2, flinches.
Dwimoh said no one single injury killed Nixzmary, Sampson agreed. She said all injuries were indicative of child abuse syndrome which put her in a debilitated state.
Sampson said that Nixzmary might have been abused after she was hit on the head because some of the bruises were only hours old.
Dwimoh asked how it would affect her calculations of the time of death if Nixzmary were placed in warm water, wrapped in blankets, put next to a radiator? Sampson said: her body temperature would then be higher than what she (Sampson) used and that would put the time of death even earlier. She would have been dead longer than 12 hours.
Defense lawyer, Kathleen Mullin does the re-cross. Mullin asked Sampson that: absent the subdural, there was no reason for Nixzmary to die. Sampson replied that Nixzmary was in danger of dying at anytime form the child abuse syndrome.
Mullin pointed out that there is a difference between child abuse and child abuse syndrome. (the defense is saying that while Nixzmary was an abused child, she didn't die from child abuse syndrome) CHILD ABUSE SYNDROME IS USED WHEN THERE ISN'T A SINGLE INJURY THAT CAUSED THE DEATH.(what Mullin is saying is that in Nixzmary's case, the single physical mechanism that caused her death was the subdural hematoma. If she was never hit on the head, she wouldn't have died in Jan.)
Mullin said that some of the bruises on Nixzmary's body came subsequent to the subdural. The gash on her lip was the freshest injury that came after she was hit on the head. Sampson agreed.
Mullin then said that the only injury inconsistant with life, is the subdural. Sampson said that it was in the context of child abuse syndrome which is why she died.
Mullin asked Sampson if she's familiar with the concept of post mortem potassium higher that 11. Sampson said she's never seen it higher than 11.
Dwimoh does the re-direct and asked Sampson why potassium testing is useless. Sampson said because there's no formula and that Nixzmary had a chronic underlying condition, child abuse syndrome.
Dwimoh then pointed out that if the subdural was inflicted on Jan. 8th, that sometime between the 8th and the 10th, that Nixzmary was a further victim of child abuse even after she was hit on the head. (we know this from the bruise on the inside of her lower lip which was only hours old) This made me really sad knowing that after Cesar smashed her head into the faucet, if that wasn't enough, she was hit again in the mouth.
And so concluded the testimony of the prosecution's Medical Examiner, Dr. Barbara Sampson.
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